Undergraduate Student Perceptions of Faculty Engagement During the Transition to Online Learning

Undergraduate students have reported challenges with staying connected to course content, their peers, and to their instructors during the disruption and transition to virtual platforms during the COVID-19 pandemic (Hollister et al., 2022) and there has been a lack of readiness to effectively engag...

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Main Authors: Ty Frederickson, Lori Cooper
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Indiana University Office of Scholarly Publishing 2025-03-01
Series:Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
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Online Access:https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals-playground/index.php/josotl/article/view/36308
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author Ty Frederickson
Lori Cooper
author_facet Ty Frederickson
Lori Cooper
author_sort Ty Frederickson
collection DOAJ
description Undergraduate students have reported challenges with staying connected to course content, their peers, and to their instructors during the disruption and transition to virtual platforms during the COVID-19 pandemic (Hollister et al., 2022) and there has been a lack of readiness to effectively engage with students and deliver instructional content reported by post-secondary faculty members (Martin et al., 2019) despite a need for relationship-centered teaching.  To investigate these problems, the following study investigated perceptions of faculty engagement practices for undergraduate students who endured this transition in their educational experience.  Using Seif’s learning engagement theory and dimensions of deep learning (2018), seven undergraduate students from one small private institution of higher education in the United States were interviewed to learn more about how faculty engaged them as students during the online transition.  Outcomes included five themes of a) feelings of empathy, b) a perception of, and/or interest in flexibility, c) a recognition that being a part of a learning community was important to their success, d) varying degrees of internal and/or external motivation, and e) real-world applications.  Recommendations for teaching practice as a result of research findings included a focus on relationships, providing rich feedback and clear expectations for students, and making your online teaching memorable for students while adjusting teaching practices to align with the delivery method.  Recommendations for future research included investigating student engagement perspectives in online courses now that the pandemic response has dissipated, how students perceive the shift to online learning has benefitted their learning and engagement, as well as faculty perceptions of how they have engaged learners in online courses.
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spelling doaj-art-b65d5e6f8cf248f085f6ebf4683f11fe2025-08-20T03:17:31ZengIndiana University Office of Scholarly PublishingJournal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning1527-93162025-03-0125110.14434/josotl.v25i1.36308Undergraduate Student Perceptions of Faculty Engagement During the Transition to Online LearningTy Frederickson0https://orcid.org/0009-0008-2472-2792Lori Cooper1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0123-8366Wilkes UniversityWilkes University Undergraduate students have reported challenges with staying connected to course content, their peers, and to their instructors during the disruption and transition to virtual platforms during the COVID-19 pandemic (Hollister et al., 2022) and there has been a lack of readiness to effectively engage with students and deliver instructional content reported by post-secondary faculty members (Martin et al., 2019) despite a need for relationship-centered teaching.  To investigate these problems, the following study investigated perceptions of faculty engagement practices for undergraduate students who endured this transition in their educational experience.  Using Seif’s learning engagement theory and dimensions of deep learning (2018), seven undergraduate students from one small private institution of higher education in the United States were interviewed to learn more about how faculty engaged them as students during the online transition.  Outcomes included five themes of a) feelings of empathy, b) a perception of, and/or interest in flexibility, c) a recognition that being a part of a learning community was important to their success, d) varying degrees of internal and/or external motivation, and e) real-world applications.  Recommendations for teaching practice as a result of research findings included a focus on relationships, providing rich feedback and clear expectations for students, and making your online teaching memorable for students while adjusting teaching practices to align with the delivery method.  Recommendations for future research included investigating student engagement perspectives in online courses now that the pandemic response has dissipated, how students perceive the shift to online learning has benefitted their learning and engagement, as well as faculty perceptions of how they have engaged learners in online courses. https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals-playground/index.php/josotl/article/view/36308deep learningonline teachingpandemicdisruptionengagement
spellingShingle Ty Frederickson
Lori Cooper
Undergraduate Student Perceptions of Faculty Engagement During the Transition to Online Learning
Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
deep learning
online teaching
pandemic
disruption
engagement
title Undergraduate Student Perceptions of Faculty Engagement During the Transition to Online Learning
title_full Undergraduate Student Perceptions of Faculty Engagement During the Transition to Online Learning
title_fullStr Undergraduate Student Perceptions of Faculty Engagement During the Transition to Online Learning
title_full_unstemmed Undergraduate Student Perceptions of Faculty Engagement During the Transition to Online Learning
title_short Undergraduate Student Perceptions of Faculty Engagement During the Transition to Online Learning
title_sort undergraduate student perceptions of faculty engagement during the transition to online learning
topic deep learning
online teaching
pandemic
disruption
engagement
url https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals-playground/index.php/josotl/article/view/36308
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